I’m loving The Wire, but it’s by no means a perfect show. For example, the way presumably-sane women hurl themselves at McNulty just so we can have a throwaway simulated sex scene gets ridiculous fast.

I think it’s S02E08, where he’s piss drunk and bashes up his car, then ends up half-conscious in a diner with a bandaged hand at four in the morning, and the waitress tells him, “you can have *anything you want*”, or some similar vaguely suggestive thing, then it’s smash-cut to the two of them naked in her bed, performing a vigorous HIIT workout on each other.

And he wakes up the next morning and notices the bloodstains his hand has left on this civilian’s mattress, and he’s clearly wondering where the hell he is and what he did last night, fade to opening credits.

I get that the point of the scene is to demonstrate that, without a murder to solve, McNulty’s life flies apart at the seams, but I just don’t buy for a second that this waitress throws herself at this fucking derelict. I know she’s only in the show for a few seconds, but give her some self-respect. 📺